March 2010

03/01/2010 09:53

From the Pastor

Ok, eighteen down and two to go. I am talking about the Course of Study. I am so looking forward to not having to drive the six hundred and forty miles to Delaware Ohio and the return trip back home. So much for that.

Thank you Carol Weinert for your filling in as “temporary” secretary. For some who may not know, the second day of my appointment here, I found tucked in the door at the parsonage a letter from the church secretary giving her notice effective immediately. So here I am, new to the church and to the community and the secretary quit. Carol volunteered to fill in temporarily. In her letter she stated that she and Henry put on hold several plans they had made when they moved to the UP and it is time to move on.

Thank you Carol for your dedication, for being my editor of my written assignments for the Course of Study, for your advice, counsel, and for your friendship, for making the fifteen mile trip to work in all kinds of weather. I pray that you can now enjoy your retirement.

We welcome Sandy Houghton who will be taking over as the Church Secretary.

I thank you all who have been praying for me and the cards and calls of concern over my bout with an upper respiratory infection which I developed while in Fla. Thanks to Carol Weinert for preaching on the 14th of Feb. and to Dr. Gloria for the house call and meds.

I came across this from an unknown author, it is worth passing on; “The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.”

In Memory of Wallace Hokenson, a gift has been given by:

In Memory of Viola Haindl, a gift has been given by:

In Honor of Rita & Louie Salter 50th Anniversary, a gift given by:

Bill & Gayle Tufnell

In Honor of Vic & Sharon Vandeville, a gift has been given by:

Rev Don & Polly Bedwell

Dear Church Family, Thank you so much for the potluck in our honor, also the gift to UMCOR Haiti fund. The great food prepared & served by our friends, well wishes, card from the children and Thank You notes made a very special day for us. We are grateful & proud to be part of our church family.

Women's News

-Carol Weinert

There has been a slight change in our plans for our annual Lenten Reflection Breakfast. The date has been changed (by executive decision) to Saturday, March 20. The time remains the same, 9 until 11 AM. Be sure to inform your friends of this date change, as many ladies from the community always plan to attend this event.

The date change became necessary when Bishop Jonathon Keaton announced that he will hold Bishop’s Day on March 27th in Gladstone. Since we do not wish to diminish the importance of either event, we bowed to the Powers that Be and changed our traditional date for the Reflection Breakfast. I hope that change will encourage many of you to attend Bishop’s Day on March 27, as it is always an exciting program.

Don’t forget, the deadline to register for the District UMW Spiritual Growth Retreat is March 20. See me for registration forms. This event will be held Friday and Saturday, April 16-17, at the Comfort Inn right here in Manistique. The presenter will be Diane Griffin, Christian Education Director of Howell UMC. She and her husband, Kevin, had been missionaries to Costa Rica and Peru. This should be an interesting program.

Cost to attend the Spring Spiritual Retreat is $33 and includes Friday evening dinner and Saturday lunch. (Out-of-towners will have an extra charge for a room at the Comfort Inn, if they wish), but we in Manistique surely will commute. Our unit will pay a portion of the registration fee for those of us who wish to attend. See Darlene Pruess or me for more information and registration forms.

A big Thank You to the many UMW ladies who helped with putting together the Spring issue of the District UMW Newsletter for mailing in late January. Many hands make short work and we assembled 420 copies complete with mailing labels in little more than 2 hours. Your willingness to help made a potentially big job quick and fun! Thanks again. And for those who are interested, we have a few extra copies available. Let me know if you are interested in reading what our District officers are doing as well as learning about other UMW events in our District.

Many of us are well on our way to fulfilling the requirements in the UMW 2010 Reading Program but there is still time to join in. The UMW bookshelves are full of interesting books for your enjoyment and enlightenment; and I understand that Phyllis Burge has put the wheels in motion to order a few more new titles. Be sure to look for them.

And remember to encourage our youngsters to participate in the Youth Reading Program. This program is open to both boys and girls. We have many children’s and youth books on the UMW bookshelves. For more information on the Reading Programs, see Mary Prater.

Did you get your copy of the 2010 Manistique UMW booklet? If not, see me or your circle chairperson for your copy. The theme for the year is "Let’s Get Together!"

Lay Leader Lines

Q: You’ve spent a lot of time talking about all these church committees. I thought the pastor was supposed to do all this church work! Just what does he do, anyway, besides preach on Sunday morning?

A: The pastor does a lot! The job of pastor is to provide essential leader ship for the church by overseeing all aspects of the ministry of the church. The role of the church is to be a Christian community with a mission of witness and service to the world. The pastor’s role is to lead and nurture the church so that it can fulfill its mission. He or she does this by providing pastoral support, guidance, and training for the lay leadership of the church, providing ministry to the congregation and to the world outside the church, teaching the principles of the Christian faith, serving as an example of a Christian lifestyle to the best of his/her ability, and administering the temporal affairs of the congregation, such as budgetary concerns, building maintenance, and the like.

Q: What if I want to talk to the minister and he isn’t there? Shouldn’t the minister always be available when I want him to be?

A: In order to do his/her job, the minister may need to attend meetings outside the church, participate in district and conference activities outside the local community, take classes to meet continuing educational requirements, visit the sick and shut-ins who cannot come to see him/her, deal with emergencies, counsel others who need his/her time and attention, teach confirmation classes, conduct weddings and funerals, and in general, perform a lot of duties which may not be immediately apparent. He or she may not always be available to you, but if you leave a message that you need to speak to him/her, he/she will get back to you as soon as possible.

Spotlight on Missions

– Norma Johnson

Missions Coordinator

As I was writing the check to pay the water bill, I was angry (as usual) about the cost. But when I thought about how it must be to live without enough water, I realized how lucky we are to be surrounded with lakes and streams. Imagine yourself to be one of these women...

The following are excerpts from a letter written by Paul Jeffrey to his supporting congregations on February 12, 2009, while he was in Yei, Southern Sudan, to interview and photograph workers and participants in United Methodist projects. He recently co-authored a book with Chris Herlinger entitled Where Mercy Fails: Darfur’s Struggle to Survive.

As we’ve set off toward rural villages in the predawn darkness, we’ve wound through the rutted streets of Yei, the headlights of our four-wheel drive vehicle illuminating the thatched-roof huts of the poor—and between the houses and along the road, scores of women waling in the dark to fetch water. And since there simply aren’t enough hand-pumped wells to meet everyone’s needs, the earlier these women start, the better chance they have to get what their families need.

If you’ve got a little more money, you can hire a woman to get you water. One United Methodist woman I met, Tamar Kako, is a widow who supports her family by carrying water to construction sites and middle-class homes.

Carrying two to three gallons on her head during each trip, she can earn a couple of dollars in four to five hours of work. When she’s done carrying someone else’s water, then she can start to carry what she needs to feed and bathe her own family and keep her dirt-floored hut clean…

In a place like Southern Sudan, building a functioning democracy and flourishing economy in the wake of decades of war means putting everyone to work, and not just at carrying water. It means ending cultural and legal practices that demean women and devalue the gifts they bring to the common table.

*********

Teresa Juan spent 20 years as a refugee in Uganda. She was one of millions who fled the civil war conflict that wreaked havoc across Southern Sudan, leaving more than 1 1/2 million people dead. Because the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 brought a measure of safety back to the area, Teresa returned to her country with her husband and eight children.

While she felt safe for the first time in years, life remained difficult for her and her family after they returned to their village. Life as a refugee had taken a devastating physical toll on her husband, and he could no longer work to sustain their family. Teresa had to walk many miles to draw water from a distant stream.